Running Head: PSY 1100-HUMAN GROWTH

Olsen 1

Psy 1100-Human Growth and Development Signature Assignment Elle Olsen Salt Lake Community College

Olsen 2 Throughout the lifespan, neuroplasticity and resiliency has been a topic of human adaptation throughout development and has been a subject of contemporary research. Neuroplasticity is the capacity of the human nervous system to develop new neuronal connections in order to compensate for injury or changes in ones environment. Resiliency is the power and ability to return to original form or recover from various events that occur throughout life. Leah Nelson, of the Observer Contributor, speaks on this matter. In 2006, she attended the APS conference A Learning Machine: Plasticity and Change Throughout Life on the brain and its function. She states (2006), Drawing together five psychological scientists unlikely to cross paths outside of a conference, one of the APS 18th Annual Conventions themed programs, Plasticity & Change: A Lifelong Perspective, showcased extraordinary research from various areas, all suggesting that the brain is almost infinitely adaptable from earliest infancy through latest adulthood. Although their research approached the topic from different angles, each presenter demonstrated the brains extraordinary capacity to bend, stretch, expand, and specialize itself in response to challenges (pg. 27-28). She also mentions the human brain continues to show neuroplasticity as we grow. As stated in Nelsons article, Michael Merzenich of the University of California (2006) says: We and our brains are learning machines and use plasticity for purposeful reasons, based on specific needs. For example, a professional musician might find it useful to train her brain to recognize absolute pitches, while a mechanics brain would be better served by expanding its sensitivity to the precise differences among types of rumbles from a troubled cars insides. In contrast, during the critical period of childhood, the brain experiences anything-goes plasticity, adapting itself to sort and interpret a huge variety of incoming data from the world. As individuals master major skill sets, massive cortical

Olsen 3 changes occur. says Merzenich. It is only after the development of selective attention control, the ability to sort and focus on preferred input, that plasticity shifts into a more purpose-driven, adult mode. He, along with others at the conference, go into detail of the older we get, the noisier our brains become with more information. Alison Gopnik, also of the University of California, goes into explanations on a childs brain, and proposed that young children behave like scientists exploring the world for the first time: making predictions, testing them, comparing data, and forming new theories. (pg. 27-28). On the effects of deprivation and resiliency, Sir Michael Rutter of Kings College states (2006): Variations tended to correlate to the amount of time spent in deprived conditions: Children who had been in orphanages for less than six months recovered most completely, while those who were there longer displayed more severe and longer-lasting deficits. (pg. 27-28). Rutter concluded that, although psychosocial deprivation was the main risk factor for all the deficits the children displayed, its effects are neither universal nor fixed, a challenge to what some developmental theories would predict most researchers would expect. While all presenters had differing topics, they all had similarities in the plasticity and resiliency of the brain. The brain shows many examples of neuroplasticity and resiliency, while adapting and molding over time. Emily Bazelon, of the New York Times, wrote an article in 2006 on the topic of resiliency adapting throughout ones life, and gives evidence as to why that is. In the spring of 1993, Bazelon was an intern at The New Haven Advocate, a local weekly. While there she met two girls named La'Tanya, who was 13, and Tichelle who was 11. Along with their two younger sisters, they had recently returned from a year in foster care to live with their mother, Jean.

Olsen 4 Bazelon was instructed to write an article on how families reunite, and in the process she met with a local prosecutor who was about to try Jean's boyfriend, Earl Osborn, for sexually abusing La'Tanya and Tichelle over several years and their 7-year-old sister, Charnelle, for a shorter period. The girls were her chief witnesses (Bazelon, 2006, pg. 1). As court commenced LaTanya and Tichelle gave testimonies of the crimes Osborn had committed, and when Jean would put him out of the house, he wouldnt stay away. She also never banished him, and despite putting sticks to their beds for defense, Osborn would sexually assault them in all manners. Bazelon states (2006): In June 1991, after being tipped off that there might be a problem at home, a school social worker pulled La'Tanya out of her sixth-grade graduation party and asked if anyone was bothering her. La'Tanya shook her head no and then started to cry, and to talk. Jean lost custody of La'Tanya, Tichelle, Charnelle and their youngest sister, Chant. That's when the girls lived in foster care, first with a family and then for several months with their grandmother. Osborn was arrested. In May 1993, on the strength of La'Tanya and Tichelle's testimony, a jury in New Haven convicted him of nine charges of sexual assault. Osborn was sentenced to 85 years in prison (pg. 1). Where does neuroplasticity, adaptation, and resiliency come into play? Jon Butler, a jury foreman on LaTanya and Tichelles case, history professor, and dean of the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (2006) states: "The verdict hinged overwhelmingly on the credibility of the girls." "They were so good because they weren't so good. They weren't acting, this wasn't contrived, what happened had been deeply disturbing to them. They conveyed this with the kind of precision that made it completely believable" (Bazelon, 2006, pg. 1). As Bazelons internship came to a close, she kept in touch with the two girls. As the girls grew up, they kept exceeding her expectations. (2006) Study after study has

Olsen 5 shown that sexually-abused children especially those who grow up in the sort of low-income, messy surroundings that the girls did are more likely to develop a raft of emotional and health problems, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts. As adults, they are more likely to be unemployed, homeless, addicted to drugs or alcohol and alone. Now, at ages 26 and 24 respectively, La'Tanya and Tichelle are none of those things. La'Tanya works as a certified nursing assistant at St. Raphael's Hospital. She has her own apartment in a small town on the Connecticut shore. She is raising her two sons, who are 10 and 5. Tichelle is a computer operator for the city of Bridgeport. She lives with her 1-year-old son in the same apartment complex as La'Tanya. Both sisters graduated from high school and have their own cars(pg. 2). In psychology, resilience is a word for springing back from serious adversity, like abuse, war or natural disasters. You exhibit resilience (as opposed to plain competence) if you cope with terrible misfortune and live a relatively successful life. Over the last several decades, a small group of researchers has tried to understand how a minority of maltreated children exceed expectations, such as LaTanya and Tichelle. The results theyve found are interesting. The latest research shows that resilience can be best understood as an interplay between particular genes and environment. Sir Michael Rutter, as in Nelsons article, also speaks of this exchange. The breakthrough of GxE came in 2003, when Terri Moffitt of Rutters research center and her husband, Avshalom Caspi, published a paper in Science that discussed the relationship between the gene, 5-HTT, and childhood maltreatment in causing depression. Scientists have determined that 5-HTT is critical for the regulation of serotonin in the brain. 5-HTT is expressed in either a long or short allele, the shorter having a higher chance of depression. Bazelon explains that (2006): Having two short alleles made it highly likely that people who had been mistreated or

Olsen 6 exposed to unhinging stress would suffer depression. One short allele posed a moderate risk of depression in these circumstances. Two long alleles, on the other hand, gave their carriers a good chance of bouncing back under negative circumstances. In other words, as a group, children with two risky alleles lost out badly when their environments failed them, children with one risky allele were at some risk and children with good resilience alleles often carried a shield. The risky variation of the gene doesn't confer vulnerability, though, if an individual who carries it never experiences abuse or serious stress in other words, it's not a "depression gene" in any general sense. It seems that only under dire circumstances abuse, the strife of war, chronic stress is the gene triggered. Eventually scientists hope to understand more about other genes that most likely play a role like 5-HTT's (pg. 3). Stephen Suomi of the National Institute of Health, conducted an experiment on these genes. Using monkeys, who carry the same 5-HTT gene as humans and share 96% of our genetic makeup, they were divided into two groups, those raised by their mothers and those not, and then released them among a small group of peers. Suomi found that motherless, peer-raised monkeys who have a copy of the short 5-HTT allele were more likely to experience fear, panic and aggression (accompanied by low levels of serotonin acid in spinal fluid) when a strange monkey in a cage is placed next to them. Motherless, peerraised monkeys with two long alleles, on the other hand, are more likely to take the presence of the stranger in stride, as mother-raised monkeys do. (Only a tiny number of monkeys have two copies of the short allele, so they're not studied) (pg. 4). In Suomis lab, Bazelon experienced this herself when going into the cage of monkeys. Some of the monkeys stay in the middle of the cage, eyeing them, while another group races to the back and huddles together in the corner, wrapping themselves around each other, turning their faces away in distress. The middle-of-the-

Olsen 7 cage monkeys were raised by their mothers. The freaked-out ones at the back raised one another. After a few minutes, some of the peer-raised monkeys begin to dart forward. After a few more minutes, they settle in with the mother-raised group. But others never move from the back of the cage. According to Suomi, (2006) You could approach the cage a hundred times and each time see the same result. And each time, the peer-raised monkeys would race to the back, and then a few would mirror human resilience by coming forward. And they would generally be the monkeys with two long 5-HTT alleles. The good version of the gene (pg. 4). Joan Kaufman, a Yale psychiatry professor, conducted a study and wrote in the journal BiologicalPsychiatry. She reported on 196 children between the ages of five and fifteen, 109 of them were removed from their homes because of neglect, physical, or sexual abuse. This group was compared with a second non-abused group with the same racial composition. She gave all 196 children a questionnaire about their moods, which measured mental health. She also used DNA tests to check their 5-HTT alleles. Kaufman's abused children with two short 5-HTT alleles had a higher mean score for depression than the abused children with two long alleles and the non-abused children, no matter what their alleles. She mentions to counteract whatever genetic makeup you have, that Good support ameliorates the effect of abuse and of the high-risk genotype," (pg. 5) and LaTanya and Tichelle both had that through living with their grandmother. And as it turns out, the sisters agreed to be tested for the alleles and Tichelle carries the protective version of the gene (two long alleles) along with does Charnelle (who was briefly abused by Osborn), who at 20 is thriving. La'Tanya, though, carries one copy of the short 5-HTT allele, putting her in the group of abused children who are at a larger risk for depression. Perhaps this is a reason she has struggled with hospitalizations and severe anxiety. However, as Kaufman says, La'Tanya's

Olsen 8 genes don't doom her to unhappiness (pg. 8). They dont doom anyone. Research has said that while genetic dispositions, negative setbacks, and traumatic events can occur, it doesnt mean it has complete control over life. This has allowed me to understand more about my development, and
how I have been more or less resilient throughout my life due to events. I have a clearer understanding of how neuroplasticity and resiliency gives us an ability to evolve, shape, and mold throughout the lifespan. There are many attributing factors to who we are and how we behave, and proper care and arrangements must be made, but a disability doesnt mean destiny. Our life events can affect us, mold us, shape us, give us good and bad days, and positively and negatively influence us, but we are the holders of our own destiny. Our continued understanding and research of resiliency will contribute significantly to

advancing our knowledge and actions, and will enable us to prosper in an era of increased and emerging risks, and help give us the best possible lifestyle.

References

Nelson, L. (2006) Association for Psychological Science, A Learning Machine: Plasticity and Change Throughout Life. Retrieved from ALearningMachine.docx

Bazelon, E. (2006) A Question of Resilience. New York Times. Retrieved from AQuestionofResilience.pdf